


Caught

by carmshiii



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Mention of Death, first fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 13:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20426888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carmshiii/pseuds/carmshiii
Summary: He sees her, amidst the fire he created. It's too late, she's caught in the flashover.





	Caught

**Author's Note:**

> This will be my first fic that I ever posted, orginally intended to be posted during RoyaiWeek2019 but i didn't make it, hence the theme.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!

“Colonel, your presence is requested in the Headquarters immediately.” A voice said calmly through the phone.

He had just gotten home, slumped on his lumpy couch, too tired to even bother changing out of his uniform. It was dark as he didn’t even bother to switch on the lights when he came in. There was extra paperwork at the office today, considering the event that transpired days ago. The entire team worked harder today, doubling the efforts on locating Scar and investigating that attack on Elric brothers with the Fullmetal brat ending up hospitalized. It certainly did not help when all the supposed pieces of evidence are all under the rubble that was once the 5 th Research Laboratory. The free time he had left and already planned to take a well-earned nap when Maes started to call and pester him nonstop. He had just started to fall asleep when his phone rang.

He frowned and looked at the clock. It says a little after seven in the evening. “At this hour? Has something happened?” “I do not have the liberty to speak about the incident, sir. Just that you are needed in the Headquarters immediately. Further details shall be disclosed to you upon your arrival.” The same monotone voice replied.

He sighed, already dreading it. He couldn’t think of an accident this huge that needed his attention. Maybe, it is about one of the cases his team is assigned to have achieved a major development. But, that can be arranged tomorrow since none of those cases needed immediate attention. Unless…

He leaned back, maybe Scar has been spotted or better yet apprehended. That must’ve been it. He nodded slowly.

He acknowledged that he will be there as soon as possible. He stood up and straightened the blue military uniform, took a sad long look on this bedroom door, locked up and headed out.

_ _

_ Lt. Col. Maes Hughes has been found dead in a phone booth in Central Headquarters. _

It’s been an hour since that was said to him by General Grumman with a grim expression on his face. It has been an hour since he left the Headquarters to walk home, seeing nothing.

How could this happen? He was just talking to Maes this afternoon, listening to him go on about his wife and daughter. How is he dead? How is he gone? Being in the military, he was used to colleagues and comrades to dying. The danger is something to be expected in this line of work. Death and victory are the two sides of the same coin. Especially during the war. Corpses of soldiers and civilians lying on the side of the road. Bodies that are lucky enough to be recovered are clad in those bloody blue uniforms, white cloths covering their faces and hiding their identities are loaded onto trucks to be brought back to Amestris. The overwhelming stench of blood and pools of it on the road and pavements. The screams of people, shrieks of women and children, and the replies of guns and explosions are common around the battlefields. He has definitely enough death to last a lifetime.

_ It’s simple. I don’t want to die.  _ Maes said in the middle of the desert, the cacophony of war surrounding them under the sweltering heat.  _ I have the love of a woman in my hands. _

Then why? Why now? When everything has been good? Maes had a budding family, he had the opportunity to do greater things, be a husband, a great father. He could have more kids if he wanted to. Why, when things have started to lull down? There’s the threat of Scar but the killer only goes after State Alchemists like him. Roy was supposed to be the one in danger, not Maes.

_ It appears that it was your office that the Lt. Colonel last requested to call. He was not permitted to do so using the military line, with his hobby of using military lines for personal purposes. He appears to have gone to a phone booth outside the premises of Central Command where he was found to have bled to death due to a gunshot wound to the chest. _

The idiot. Now, all of that was gone in an instant. Just because he couldn’t wait to call.

He trudged on, not knowing where to go. He did not know when the rain started to pour in buckets, soaking his clothes, causing his clothes to get plastered to his body. Regardless of the rain and the cold, he felt nothing. Numb to his bones. He didn’t even know where he was going now. He kept walking down the road without any idea where he’ll end up.

“Colonel?” That voice.

“Colonel!” Again.

Hands grabbed at him and he saw her. Her brown eyes are shining with tears, her face pinched and creased with worry lines, her mouth pressed on a line and she looked like she’s trying hard not to cry. Her hand grabbed his soaked uniform and pulled him towards her under an umbrella she clutched on her other hand.

“Lieutenant,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “Hughes–” He leaned towards her.

She nodded and pulled him against her, arms going around him. “I know. I’ve just heard it from Catalina. She called me as soon as she heard from Grumman’s office. I was looking all over for you.” She is warm and light. She keeps him steady, stumbling as she supported his weight. He sagged against her, hugging her back while she rubbed circles against his back.

“Let’s get you out of the rain.” She kept one arm on his waist and pulled him to walk. Looking around, he realized he was in the Lieutenant’s neighborhood. He subconsciously walked to her apartment under the rain.

A few meters away, he spotted a telephone booth and it all came crashing back. Maes Hughes will not call him anymore. Maes Hughes will not steal a quiche from him anymore. Maes Hughes is gone.

He is dead.

His knees buckled and hit the pavement, his gloved hands bracing his fall. His breathing harsh and his lungs are burning as if he had run miles. He hung his head and found himself shaking.

“Colonel.”

He looked up and saw Lieutenant kneeling in front of him, umbrella forgotten. Her hands are on his shoulders, water trailing down her cheeks, of rain or tears he did not know.

“He’s gone. And I didn’t even answer his call. I kept saying how I hate it when he calls me about his family. Now… I’ll never hear it. I’ll never answer his calls again. How did this happen, Riza? Why him? The idiot is so intuitive, he got mixed into something he never should’ve been mixed into.” His eyes fill with tears at last, and the weight of his heart being released in the form of tears. He laughed, cruelly. “I hated answering his calls because I’m reminded of the things he has. I’m jealous of him. Of his family. I never had that.”

“I know. We can never take things for granted in this line of work. Especially with dangers like this just around the corner. Hughes is a very brave man and a patriotic one at that. He might have discovered something he shouldn’t have, but he knew delving into something this important is like wading through thorns. Still, he continued down that path and he knows as soon as he stuck his head into something like this, it might cost him his life. But for the sake of his countrymen and ones he loved, he fought.” Her shoulders dropped as if the thought of fighting to death had just occurred to her.

“I did not know Hughes as much as you did,” she continued. “And yet my heart aches for him. It’s a pain that is welcomed, Colonel.” She says, the rain mercilessly pelting them.

He closed his eyes. “They wanted me to tell Gracia. Since I’m close to the family, they told me it’ll soften the blow.” Riza exhales, in shock of the duty assigned to him. “They want me to tell her she’s a widow. That Elicia is fatherless now. That her husband was murdered. I don’t know if I could.”

He crumbles then, sobbing. He withstood the war, survived it not knowing the war never left him. He wanted to do good things for this country and Hughes was the first person to acknowledge his support in his ideals.

But the world is never fair.

Maes fought whatever hell he saw for the sake of the people he loved. It cost him his life.

He looked at her then, to those bright round eyes, horror descending unto him. Not her too.

He couldn’t. He couldn’t lose her. Not like this.

He swallowed, “Hawkeye, I know you promised me. You dedicated your life to my cause and ideals. To hell, didn’t you say?” Straightening up kneeling in front of her, he slid a hand to her jaw, framing her face. Her hands found their way against his chest as if warding off the mere idea of his touch. Beneath his palm, a steady beat of her pulse felt familiar. He took a deep breath and said, “I know this life I lead will bring you pain, much more than what I’m doing to you now. My journey to becoming the Fuhrer will definitely be dangerous and there will be blood to be shed. Now, I am giving you the chance to go back on that promise.”

“What?” Disbelief etched in her features. “What do you mean to turn back?”

_ I can’t lose you. _ “Turn back, reassign somewhere else. My life attracts danger now. It’ll be better if you’re farther away from me. My life is in inferno now and you’ll be caught in the flashover. It’ll be inevitable.”  _ Even if it pains him to do so. _ “I – I can’t lose you too.”

Disbelief turns to anger. Her hands curl into fists against his chest, “What are you saying? Turn back? Now? When we have reached this far? That’s not what I promised.” He expected her to lean back, walk away from him. Instead, she leaned closer, too close, until their noses are almost touching. She scoffed, “It’s like you never knew me. I knew what I signed into. I knew this was a dangerous path. Didn’t you say it yourself? In order to win, a man should be prepared to lose.” Her face is stormy, her eyes now murky brown and her frown went deeper.

“I know what I said. To hell, I will follow you. I’ll stand by it. Don’t take me lightly and don’t take me for a fool.”

Relief coursed through him. He briefly closed his eyes, savoring that moment. He expected her refusal. She’s not leaving him. He let out a shaky chuckle. “I am the fool. I forgot who I was talking to.” He raked his hands through his wet hair, the rain has calmed down, mere drizzle now.

“Grieve, Roy.” It’s been a while since she called him by his name, it felt foreign now, coming from her lips. Her hands framed his jaw, strangely warm despite the weather. “You’re allowed to. Come on, now. My apartment is just around the corner, you’re going to get sick, out in the rain this late at night.” She stands up and pulls him up as well.

“I could say the same to you.”

He underestimated her spirit, her heart. It was a mistake he’ll never make again.


End file.
